Sony files for Vib-Ribbon trademark in Europe

Vib-Ribbon, an early Sony rhythm game that is almost entirely forgotten in our modern era, may be making a comeback, if a European trademark filed by the gaming giant is anything to go by.

The original Vib-Ribbon appeared on the first PlayStation in 1999. It was designed by Masaya Matsuura and developed by his studio, NanaOn-Sha, the same development house behind PlayStation-era rhythm game classics Parappa The Rapper and Um Jammer Lammy. Unlike those two colorful games, however, Vib-Ribbon is a spartan, monochrome affair in which 2D, side-scrolling stages are generated from a user's own music – a feature that made Vib-Ribbon unique in 1999, and one that remains a rarity in rhythm games to this day.

Unfortunately, the trademark filing offers no information on what Sony has planned for the long-dormant series. Our attempts to pry more information from Sony's representatives bore no fruit, so until the company opts to share its plans all we can say for sure is that Sony has some latent interest in the addictive, bizarre Vib-Ribbon.